paper -
58 Implementing LIES (Location Independent Email Service)
Pamela
Vogel, Brown University
John Spadaro, Brown University
This paper will provide a useful guide to those
schools that have not yet implemented IMAP and are considering doing so. With
both the systems and user services perspectives, any schools considering
implementing this service will get a full view of what is involved in putting
out IMAP.
The goal of the LIES(Location Independent Email
Service) project was simple: add IMAP services to our existing POP services in
a way that would allow people to work from anywhere with their settings,
nicknames, and mailboxes intact. The team knew that even if all the goals were
not met in the first stage of implementing the new service, it was critical to achieve
the location independence capability quickly. Over 500 people were still using
email on our mainframe, and the only way to migrate them off was to recreate
the capability they had with their mainframe accounts, complete location
independence, while giving them new services (such as the ability to read
attachments). Furthermore, with a large number of the POP users making use of
the "Leave mail on server" option, it was clear that even those users
were looking for a better solution.
The project team was able to start with a server that already provided IMAP service because the server software had been replaced late in 1999 for Y2K reasons. System support still was needed to implement SSL support, quota management, and backup procedures. Client selection (both desktop and web based), new documentation, and marketing strategies were also components of the project.